As hummingbirds migrate for the winter, hundreds of the agile creatures are flocking to nectar-filled feeders across south Louisiana, where some will stop to refuel before heading even further south.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That means that over the next few months, eager bird watchers in the state should expect to spot an influx of the small birds through the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ruby-throated hummingbird\u00a0\u2014 the only species to nest and breed in Louisiana\u00a0\u2014 is most common, according to Erik Johnson,\u00a0assistant professor at the LSU\u00a0School of Renewable Natural Resources and ornithologist.<\/p>\n
Their migration peaks towards the end of September, he said, and most ruby-throats will be back in the tropics by October.<\/p>\n
But it’s around that same time that ‘winter’ hummingbirds arrive. Species like Rufous, Allen\u2019s, Anna\u2019s, buff-bellied, black-chined, broad-tailed, broad-billed and calliope hummingbirds are among the 14 species that have been recorded in Louisiana during the off-season<\/p>\n
“I personally had eight different hummingbirds in my yard last winter,” Johnson said. “They all survived the snow and the freeze and it was because I was getting out at like five in the morning to swap out the feeders to make sure they weren’t frozen.”<\/p>\n
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Broad-billed Hummingbird\u00a0<\/p>\n
Broad-billed Hummingbirds are found mainly in Arizona in summer in streamside woods, foothills and canyons. Broad-billed are active and flip tails about while hovering.<\/p>\n
PROVIDED PHOTO BY DENNIS DEMCHECK<\/p>\n
Winter hummingbirds\u00a0<\/p>\n
Louisiana is in the midst of a hummingbird turnover, Johnson said, as the tiny birds travel thousands of miles from their northern breeding grounds.<\/p>\n
Since the ruby-throats are the only species to breed in eastern North America, their migration patterns are slightly different from other non-native species.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our local birds that breed here in Louisiana, they’re probably mostly gone by now,” Johnson said. “They’ve already started migrating, so most of the birds we’re seeing at feeders are coming from places further north.”<\/p>\n
How to attract them to your yard<\/p>\n
Using their slender bills and forked tongues<\/a>, hummingbirds can guzzle nectar from long, tubular flowers \u2014 but they’re just as likely to lap up nectar from a colorful feeder.\u00a0<\/p>\n “They’re just looking for red,” Johnson said. “They’re looking for flowers. They’re looking for that color signal, and so a big feeder sitting out on the edge of somebody’s home is going to be really attractive.”<\/p>\n